Pool Wall Is Too Short

by Joe Sweeter
(Jonesville Mi USA)

Do you have any helpful hints on putting up a wall on an above ground pool? We are having trouble, we sat it in the track and came up about 4 inches short and we don't know what we are doing wrong.

Hi Joe. From looking at the photo this is the amount of overlap you get in the track when you pull the wall together so that it meets. The wall would need to be taken completely out and the gaps in the track reset, then the wall can be re-installed. The gaps need to be even all the way around the pool.

The bottom rails fit into bottom plates and usually have about a quarter to a half inch gap between each other. When the wall is too long the gaps need to be opened up, when it is short the gaps need to be closed.

If your bottom rails are inside the footplates and butt up to each other, no gap, and your wall is too short you probably have the wrong rails for your pool. You could use a hacksaw and cut a little off of at least half of them and see if that would work. It may require cutting a little off of all of them to keep the pool round.

This photo shows a wall ready to have the nuts and bolts installed. Notice the small gap at the ends of the bottom rails. These gaps are the same at every foot connector, this is very important.

Pool Wall Not Meeting

The pool we are installing is 18X33 oval and the wall is not meeting, need about 3 more inches to meet, what are we doing wrong?

Hi. This happens a lot. It just means you need to take the wall down and re-gap your bottom rails. The rails at both ends of the pool need to be pushed a little farther into the footplates.

When doing this type of adjustment it is important to close the gap on all the footplates, not just one or two. By gaining three inches of wall at one, maybe two, footplates you will through the end out of roundness. The top rails will fit funny also. They are all the same size and they need the space between footplates to all be the same. Too small of gap between footplates will leave the rail too long and wind up spreading the tops of the uprights to get it to fit.

Oval 15 x 30 Installation Concerns

by Nathan
(Southern Illinois)

I am seeking some good advice as to what I should do. I have just installed a 15 x 30 Buster Crabbe oval pool that is 52 inches deep. We ran into several problems with the install that have caused some issues with the end result. Namely, according to the directions, we were to only insert the bottom rails half-way into the connector plates on both radius ends. After doing so and getting the wall in place, we ended up being about 18" short. Repositioning the bottom rails and moving the patio blocks was required to get the wall to fit. In the process of doing so, our patio blocks must have gotten out of level, as we have several support posts on both radius ends that are noticeably leaning both in and out. In fact, a couple of the patio blocks are very obviously slanted down towards the base plate where the upright is sitting, in effect the back of the block is obviously higher than the front of the block (where the upright is positioned).

Our side walls seem good. They are leaning out very slightly, but they all seem to be on the same angle, and I assume that this is a normal result of compaction due to the weight of the water in the pool.

We also have several uprights where the wall is not on contact with them at all. These are all on the radius ends as well. I can easily slide my fingers between the upright and the pool wall.

I am concerned that the pool isn't structurally sound and that I need to take measures to correct these issues. Please advise. We want a finished product that our family can enjoy for many years to come. Thanks for your informational site. I wish I would have found it 3 weeks ago!

Hi Nathan
The pool may not be perfect but I don't see anything that would concern me. I guess it is just a matter of how much more time you want to put into it. I know the frustration of getting the wall up and to the end and being 18" short. Taking it all down and redoing both ends is a pain.

Above Ground Pool Installation Problems

I am installing a 21' AGP with my husband in our backyard. Everything was going well until we put the wall in. It was about a foot short. I told him that we needed to take the wall out and re-gap the track, but he had his own ideas of how to do it.

Well, it worked somewhat, now we are only about 3" away. I can see that there are about 2-3 plates that have slack still in them, otherwise all of them are butted up completely.

My husband decided to go ahead and bolt the wall together thinking he could push the wall into place once it was together, but it is not working.

Also, assuming we get the pool together yet this year, lol... we are approaching fall very quickly and our temperatures are dropping. Our highs are only in the 70s if we are lucky during the day and much colder at night. The pool is in the shade. Will we be ok to still install the liner this fall? I'm hoping by next weekend, asking as we can get this wall together.
Thank you for your help.

Hi

This is a good example of uniform rail gap, it needs to be uniform. Rail gap can be all the way from a half an inch to none. At one time Asahi Pools had a 15' pool with a negative gap. With all the rails butted up we still had to cut the last bottom rail a little to make the sidewall fit. The wall needs to fit top and bottom before it is bolted up and all the gaps need to be uniform.

In cooler weather you need to make use of direct sunlight before you install the pool liner. Direct sun is more important than temperature.